DENVER – The woman who accused Kobe Bryant of rape will have to discuss with prosecutors whether she will go ahead with the criminal case because she fears the release of court documents about her sex life threatens her chance of getting a fair hearing, one of her lawyers said Wednesday.
Probably wise, but not because you won’t get a fair hearing. If your history is that bad, your lawyers should never have taken you to court in the first place, rape shield laws or no.
Don’t get me wrong — I have no use for Kobe Bryant and never have (and not just because I’m a Lakers anti-fan). My wife was a victim of rape years before I met her, and I’m all for cutting the balls off of rapists only slightly before garrotting them in the public square. The problem here is that I’ve found this story hard to believe from the outset, even with Kobe not doing any favors for his defense (ie the big diamond he bought his wife).
If I were guessin’, my guess would be that the woman had consensual sex with Kobe, went back to her boyfriend, bragged about it, and he smacked her around and raped her for her trouble. That being based on what little I’ve heard about the case.
The problem is that the truth will NEVER come out in this story, whether Kobe is convicted or acquitted or if the woman drops the charges. By implication, there has got to be a lot more involved in the case than meets the eye.
The bitch of it is, it sounds like she wants to drop the criminal case so she can file civil charges. But if she drops the criminal case, doesn’t that prejudice her chances of winning the big-bucks case?
I don’t think her lawyers are doing her any favors.